NEXT week, music aficionados up and down the country will visit their favourite independent record shops to pick up some exclusive items, enjoy live performances and unwillingly sound the death knell of the industry they claim to love.

While Record Store Day, due to be held on Saturday, April 18 and now in its eighth year, is billed as a celebration of the dying independent music shop, it’s no stretch to say its real purpose is to boost profits for struggling retailers in a time when most people snub brick and mortar stores in favour of cheap online deals.

And that’s why it’s a terrible idea.

All that ends up happening is music fans make a big show of going to the record shop, shout to anyone who’ll listen how much they love brick and mortar stores and take a dozen selfies.

They’ll spend £20 on an exclusive t-shirt and then go back home for another year, satisfied they’ve done their bit to prop up the industry.

And the next time they want to get the latest limited edition autographed Take That box set with marble busts of the band members – Robbie, of course, sold separately – they’ll buy it online for a £3.50 saving.

They’ll be secure in the belief they bought something on Record Store Day so the music industry is safe for another year.

As a personal rule, I only shop online if I’m after something which is impossible to find in stores.

Yes, I usually end up paying a few quid more for DVDs and the like, but I’d rather have a slightly slimmer bank account than a high street full of empty shops – tempting though it is to save a few pounds in a world where we all struggle to pay the bills.

So, next time your favourite band puts out an album, venture into town to buy it.

If they don’t stock it, ask them to order it for you – it’ll take no longer to arrive than if you bought it online from Amazon.

Needless to say, this goes for bookstores, DVD shops, and so on.

I don’t want to live in a world where I can’t go into a shop and buy something there and then.

But things like Record Store Day – while a noble endeavour – are making that reality just a little bit closer.